


To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

by blakeyre



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, fluff mostly, god they're so soft, just a one-shot, spoilers for volume 6 i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 10:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17865689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakeyre/pseuds/blakeyre
Summary: Without warning, Yang fell to her knees, as if she couldn’t stand any longer, or like the hand of some invisible god had pushed her down. Blake recognized her telltale tremble as she put her hands on Blake’s hips, but not in a sexual way – she held her with the same gentle touch someone might use with a wounded bird cupped in their palms. One of Yang’s thumbs brushed the x-shaped scars on Blake’s skin."Two scars,” Yang said. “I’d seen one of them at Beacon, because you know, we shared a room. But the second one…"





	To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

It all started when they were getting ready for bed.

They hadn’t had a moment alone since the fight with Adam. Sure, they’d stuck close to each other, brushing hands and arms for comfort, exchanging soft smiles and warm glances. But no real time with just the two of them.

Winter had agreed to let them all stay at her lavish property in Atlas. Seeing the way she looked at Weiss, Yang decided she wasn’t half-bad. A little icy, but weren’t all Schnee’s upon first meeting? Plus, she had enough rooms for almost everyone. Key word being _almost_. Blake and Yang had offered to share in a heartbeat.

Yang was walking out of the bathroom after the best hot shower of her life. Despite her semblance, she still felt the biting Atlas winds when they walked through the city. The cold air felt dry and painful whenever she so much as breathed. She could only imagine how it felt to Blake.

A quick activation of her semblance dried her hair. Winter had provided Blake with a lovely wool coat to keep her warm, and the faunus was in the middle of shedding it off, tossing it on a nearby chair. Yang stopped, dumbstruck by Blake’s flexing shoulders. She’d already taken off her boots and proceeded to shimmy out of her pants, then peel off her black top.

Blake turned around to grab the pajamas she’d laid out on the bed, and made eye contact with Yang, still frozen in place. _Fuck,_ Yang thought. _Caught staring. I’m the worst._

~

Yang immediately looked away, cheeks and ears burning, spluttering, “I didn’t mean to…uh…I’m so sorry…”

If it had been anyone else, Blake would have died with embarrassment. She stood there in only her bra and underwear, after all. Maybe she was just exhausted – from the travelling, from fending off the stares and snickers of Atlas citizens all day long – but her ears, which had shot up in surprise, now relaxed. Yang was still turned away.

“It’s okay,” Blake finally said. She wasn’t ashamed of her body – especially in front of Yang. She tried to play it casually; the Blake of a year ago would have been a stammering mess. But this woman had already seen her bare soul and decided to stay. There was something about sharing her bare skin too that compelled Blake to keep talking. “You can look, if you want. I’m not saying we have to take any giant steps right now, but I’m not – you’re not offending me.”

After a moment, Yang turned back to look at Blake. They held each other’s gaze for a moment before her partner’s gaze flicked downwards. Heat crept into Blake’s cheeks. _Don’t cross your arms_ , she told herself. _You said she could look_.

But the _way_ Yang looked at her. Molten and intimate. Her eyes had darkened while taking Blake in, swallowed by an emotion she couldn’t put her finger on. Finally, Yang crossed over to her, and Blake lifted her head.

Yang stopped mere inches from her face, and her hand brushed over Blake’s stomach. Her breath caught, and her embarrassment instantly evaporated in a flame of desire that ignited in Blake’s core. Yang did look incredible in her orange tank top, biceps on full display, hair a little messy -

A finger came under her chin, tilting it up, and Blake’s embarrassment returned. Now she’d been the one staring. But when she looked into Yang’s eyes, she saw softness there. And a deep sadness.

Yang finally said, “I didn’t realize there were two.”

“W-what?” Blake asked. She’d read this situation all wrong.

Without warning, Yang fell to her knees, as if she couldn’t stand any longer, or like the hand of some invisible god had pushed her down. Blake recognized her telltale tremble as she put her hands on Blake’s hips, but not in a sexual way – she held her with the same gentle touch someone might use with a wounded bird in their palm. One of Yang’s thumbs brushed the x-shaped scars on Blake’s skin.

“Two scars,” Yang said. “I’d seen one of them at Beacon, because you know, we shared a room. But the second one…”

Blake looked down at Yang, at the tenderness written on her face. Her heart swelled with love, at the woman brought to her knees at the sight of one of Blake’s greatest hurts. “I got it the same night Adam took your arm,” Blake said. “Before you came in, he stabbed me. Right where he’d done it when I left the White Fang.” Now it was her turn to tremble.

Yang leaned in and kissed the scars. Her lips were warm as the rest of her and done with so much care and sweetness. It was too much. She didn’t deserve anyone kneeling before her, least of all this incredible woman. Blake collapsed, and Yang caught her, holding her nearly the same way she had after Adam’s death.

Blake buried her face in Yang’s neck. Her partner held her with sure arms, almost gently rocking her, cooing in her ear. So softly that Blake couldn’t make out the words, but Yang breathed them with a voice warm and tender as a long-burning fire, so it didn’t matter. A part of her felt guilty, being held like this. Surely Yang needed comfort too, especially after the mention of Adam. But then Yang pulled a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her, rubbing slow circles on her back, Blake couldn’t have moved if her life depended on it. For the first time in maybe her life, she felt utterly safe, taken care of, seen, loved.

The last thought scared her. Loved. Was she in love with Yang Xiao Long? Yang had to have been certain of her feelings, since this gesture could be nothing other than love. But was Blake taking advantage of that care, of her partner’s intrinsic need to protect others - ?

“Kitten,” Yang said, a little louder than any of her other words. “Come back to me. What are you thinking?”

Her face, as well as Yang’s neck, was wet with tears. She hadn’t even realized. “I-” Blake lifted her head, and Yang smoothed back the strands of hair that had fallen from behind her ears. “I don’t deserve you,” she whispered. “Any part of you. You don’t deserve…whatever love I have left.”

She stood up. Her instincts, her fears, were taking over. She needed to get away. Grabbing the coat Winter had given her, Blake ran for the door.

“Blake!” Yang’s voice echoed down the hallway as she sprinted, towards one of the moonlit balconies, flinging open the doors and stepping into the whirling snow.

She could jump from here, disappear into the city. Her team didn’t need her. Yang, most of all, didn’t need her. All she had to do was jump. But something held her back. Made her hesitate. She turned around.

Yang had run down the hallway, but stopped before the doors. The look on her face – Blake saw buildings crumble, bridges collapse, the earth crack and split open in Yang’s expression. And that was what stopped her. Her promise.

She came back in, firmly shutting the doors. Yang turned and retreated to their room before Blake could say anything.

Once they re-entered, Blake shed the coat and threw on the purple sleep shirt she’d had on the bed. Yang sat on the edge of the bed opposite her, staring at nothing. Finally, Yang said,

“I can’t do this if I’m under constant fear that you’re going to run away.”

Blake hung her head. She was right. This is why she had nothing left to give but a worthless, shattered love –

 _No. Talk to her_. “I’m sorry.”

Now it was time for Blake’s supplication. She fell to her knees in front of Yang, gathering both her partner’s hands in her own. “It’s going to take time, for me to fight that instinct. But my promise stopped me from jumping off that balcony.”

Yang looked down at her. The blonde’s shoulders sagged, her eyes seemed dull. Drained. “Just let me in,” she said. “Please. I can’t help if I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

Blake kissed her hand. “I know.”

Her partner softened. “So tell me what you were thinking. What moved you to tears?"

She rose, and the two of them laid down together on the bed, facing each other. Blake took a deep breath, searching for words, before saying, “I was thinking about how incredible you treat me. How deeply you care for me and show it to me. And how…I feel like…I’m damaged to you now. Like if we’d met in another life, I could love you as fully and deeply as you deserve.”

“What do you mean, in another life?”

"I mean in a life where I didn’t join the White Fang, or – or you know. Meet Adam.” Even in death, his specter still loomed over their relationship.

Yang shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said softly. No frustration. Just love.

Blake swallowed, and shut her eyes. “Sometimes I think I don’t know what it’s supposed to feel like. A real relationship. Adam made me feel so small, so worthless…when you treat me the way that you do, I get – it’s overwhelming. In a good way, but then I worry that I don’t know what love looks like or feels like, like I won’t know how to give it back to you – ”

For a moment, she didn’t know what had happened, just felt gentle pressure on her lips. She opened her eyes and her vision was filled with gold, with Yang, and then she understood. Closing them again, she leaned her head more towards her partner, returning the kiss. It was their first one, and Blake had read enough romance novels to know how it was supposed to feel: like a million fireworks, like coming home on a cold winter’s day, like being cast adrift in the ocean and lost then found again in this meeting of two souls.

It was all of that. All of that and more. Blake smiled as she kissed a little deeper, ignoring her lungs’ cry for oxygen, because not even air was sweeter than Yang. The White Fang, the relics, Salem, absolutely none of it mattered. This was where Blake wanted to be for the rest of her life.

Yang pulled away first and sat up. Her eyes had widened, chest heaving. “I didn’t…” The blonde blinked, seeming to have lost the words.

Blake sat up too, looking at her partner, trying to read her face while catching her own breath. Had it been better than Yang expected? Worse? Had she moved too quick? Was she -

“I know that look,” Yang suddenly said, turning to her and cradling Blake’s face in her hands. “You’re spiraling. Come back to me.”

“Did I – did I do something wrong?”

Her partner shook her head, saying, “No – no. It was…Blake, you’re incredible. And I want you to know that what you said isn’t true. You do know how to show me love. You’re learning. Maybe it’s different than most people, but you – you’re always letting me know. Without any words.”

Blake leaned into one of Yang’s hands, nuzzling her palm. “You’re certain?”

“I’m certain.”

It took them forever to fall asleep. Not because they weren’t tired, but because they absolutely couldn’t stop touching each other. Twining their fingers together, playing with the other’s hair, exchanging soft kisses. Yang was giving in sooner than Blake, eyes half-closed as her body relaxed into the mattress, and as she drifted, Blake leaned in, kissing her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, with the gentlest touch of her lips.

She held Yang in her arms as her partner finally gave in to sleep, and a few moments later, her breathing evened out, the tension leaving her body. Blake fought to stay awake as long as she possibly could – not only to burn the memory of a sleeping Yang in her arms into her brain, but also because she had promised she’d protect her. She’d stay awake all night keeping watch over her partner if it could always be this sweet.

When Blake finally felt heaviness on her eyelids, deep into the early hours of the morning, she brushed aside Yang’s lovely hair and kissed her shoulder, softly, whispering against her skin,

“I love you.”

In the morning, they’d have to go out and face Atlas again, go back to fighting off Grimm and Cinder and eventually, one day, Salem herself. There’d be blood and fire and probably much more loss. But for now, sheltered by the warm blankets and each other’s embrace, they could rest. Sleep.

And perhaps even dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys. First Bumbleby fic ever - hopefully the first of many. Come hang out with me on tumblr @blakeyre if you want to. Much love to all the FNDM. <3


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